Dukefan

9 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

In general agree with you though I wish they waited until they had a few cruises under the Bermuda belt before bursting the bubble.  Hopefully it won’t prove to be a mistake.  
 

I did some research this morning to be prepared if we are set free also. I was hoping to figure out a way to get to the ice lagoon but no rental car places appear in a Google search for Dijupivogar   😢

 

Found what I think is the whale watching tour we are signed up for in Akureyri. We could save $70 or so apiece but haven’t verified how far the tour Boat is from where we will dock.  So given we will be traveling with Mike’s mom, we may just keep it simple. 
 

Found a Golden Circle and Secret Lagoon tour I would love to do, but afraid we might miss sailaway so not going to risk it. Could do GC independently at a variety of price points but only way to really save money is yo go with a large tour bus so we decided we wouldn’t change that. 

I agree with your evaluation.   I looked at private tours at each site and really couldn't find anything that we liked better than what we are currently doing through Viking.  We could safe a few dollars doing the same thing we are currently scheduled to do but the few dollars we would save would probably result in more hassle than with Viking.   What we would like to be able to do on our own however is to explore each of these small towns we are visiting and meet the locals to get a better feel for Iceland.  Hopefully if they allow us off the ship without being on an excursion we will be able to do some of that.

I just saw that the Viking Bermuda Travelers will now be allowed to travel outside the "Viking Bubble" on their own at the various Bermuda ports.  I hope that Viking and the Iceland authorities let us do that as well.  I basically see it as no different that allowing folks to travel on their own prior to boarding the ship.  The fact that we have onboard testing as well as contact tracing provides a significant means of early detection and tracing should a breakthrough case occur in order to minimize its impact..

On 6/14/2021 at 9:45 AM, Clay Clayton said:

Pardon this interruption from an Iceland cruiser. 
 

When did Viking notify you of the need to use the Verifly app to upload your vaccine information?  How did you receive this request?

 

Thanks!

Clay,

I downloaded the Verifly App, entered the data required under Viking Ocean, and received our "Ready to Travel" status about 20 minutes after I entered the required data (photo, vaccination information, booking number, cruise date).

I downloaded the Verifly App and completed the requirements.   It has a Viking section and I believe this is how Viking will request your vaccination data.   It is a fairly good app.

I see where the Viking Sky is now at anchor off of Skagen, Denmark and showing its next port is Reykjavik. I haven't seen any estimated arrival time & date yet.  

39 minutes ago, MikeyB said:

My only other comment about tipping-

On this Icelandic cruise-  Employees are paid a "living wage".  That is part of the reason everything is more expensive.  No need to act foolish or feel bad about not tipping.

I am willing to place a $1 bet in the Viking casino, that at sometime during a cruise presentation, they will announce tipping protocol and also state that if you wish to tip you can do it in any currency.

 

 

Viking Casino?????

10 hours ago, FoggyEthan said:

Not speaking for him, but I think his concern was about the publicity relating specifically to cruise lines, and the impact it would have on our upcoming sailings if Viking was shown to have ignored a positive test which led to on-board spread.

 

Also, drawing people out on their covid views is rarely productive. The topic involves both lots of uncertainty and lots of emotion. This can heat up very quickly. It's not worth it.

Each of us has had to decide how to deal with this pandemic.  The solutions have ranged from “I’m not going to get vaccinated and I am going to go on living my life as if the pandemic didn’t exist” to “I’m going to get vaccinated, I’m going to get tested regularly and I am going to live my life as if I haven’t been vaccinated by not going out unless I have to and when I do practice social distancing, hand washing and mask wearing” and everything in between and maybe even some beyond these two extremes.  

The bottom line is we each have to chose what we are comfortable doing.  When we visit someone’s home, they generally set the rules on how to deal with the pandemic while we are there.  If we don’t feel comfortable because we believe their rules are to lose or to strict, we can choose not to visit their home. When we sail on a Viking Ship, they get to set the rules and we get to chose if we are comfortable enough with these rules to either sail with them or not sail with them.  It is our choice.

Vikings rules in short are everyone must be vaccinated, they must agree to regular testing, they must wear a contact tracing device, they must wear a mask and practice social distancing except when eating, drinking or in their cabin, and they must agree to only leave the ship in the Viking bubble.

There have been many complaints on Cruise Critic about how restrictive these rules are. Jtwood and now FoggyEthan are the first comments that I have read suggesting that Viking’s rules are not strict enough.  When I am currently out and about in the stores in my community, more folks are now not wearing masks and I have no idea whether they have been vaccinated or not thus I still wear a mask.  The point I have been trying to make in my posts on this subject is that went we are on the Viking ship following the current Viking rules we will be saver than we currently are while we are home.  When I see comments suggesting that the Viking rules are not strict enough it causes me to ask two questions:  1) What should Viking do differently?   2) What practices are you following at home that cause you to feel Viking’s rules are not strict enough (in other words, why do you feel saver following your rules at home than you would following Viking’s rules)?

1 hour ago, jtwind said:

The problem cruise lines face is that, if folks test positive during or at the end of a cruise, it will be obvious that they got the virus while on the cruise.  I'm not saying that these Viking cruises aren't relatively safe, I'm saying that, in order to avoid undue bad press, they should have taken more steps to be sure that the positive was indeed false.  If it wasn't, things could get bad.

Jtwind - I am still trying to understand what you are doing at home that is above and beyond what Viking is doing on it’s cruises, You so negative on Vikings process, please let us know so we can all learn from your expertise.

43 minutes ago, jtwind said:

I hear ya.  And like I said earlier, I'm hoping for a successful return of the cruise industry as much as anyone else.  But quarantine them for at least a day, and do a third test for the tiebreaker.

 

I worked at a place that had an inaccurate test for one of their products.  I saw these clowns test over and over again until they got the answer they wanted, then stopped testing.

Jtwind - Since you so concerned about these issues, you haven’t answered my earlier question- how are you living your life and protecting yourself now?  Tell us which of these things you are suggesting Viking do you are currently doing.

1 hour ago, jtwind said:

Kinda reckless that the positive results are questioned, but not the negative tests.

Jtwind - has everyone you have contact with today been vacinnated and tested?   Ease up man, what is happening in the Viking bubble is significantly safer than the life everyone except hermits are experiencing outside the Viking bubble.   Is it foolproof - no.   I can't think of any environment we have as foolproof against the virus.  But I believe your odds are significantly better of not getting the virus in the Viking bubble than it is as I go about my life at home especially non where I can go into stores and not really know whether the people I'm passing that are not wearing a mask are vacinated or not.

How are you living your life today where you feel Viking plan is more danagerous to you than you are at home?  Just wondering?

When we book a PV cabin we always request Deck 6 aft.  It is convenient to the World Cafe.  The verandas have a little extra overhang.  We have never had a noise problem on the two cruises that we were in a deck 6 PV aft cabin.  The website just mentioned said to avoid these cabins because of the overhang.  I disagree, the overhang is one of the reasons we love them - each protection from the rain and sun.

53 minutes ago, chromatographer said:

Quick question for the group on how to spend out vouchers. We were able to book several excursions using vouchers from last year’s cancelled ocean cruise. Ultimately I was able to spend out my voucher on excursions (only went $35 over) but my partner still has $200 left and there are no excursions left to spend it on. I understand that the residual voucher value cannot be used on board, but am wondering what else we can spend it on without doing something like putting it toward $1000 of Viking Air. Silver spirits package is not a good fit since she doesn’t drink alcohol. 

 

Has anyone been able to get Viking to allow one passenger’s voucher to pay for both passengers’ prepaid gratuities? We called and they said no. I’m expecting airport transfers might be similarly restricted in terms of who’s voucher can be used for which passenger. Anyone have any other ideas on spending out the last $100 to $200 of a voucher? I wish they would just turn it into shipboard credit so we could use it at the spa. Trying to avoid leaving money on the table. 

You could use luggage forwarding or return to spend the extra money  and thus save you from the challenge of baggage handling.   It would work for both of you since the luggage would be sent in your partners name.

23 minutes ago, FoggyEthan said:

Weird that they aren't available for July 13th sailing. Also the Heimaey boat nature tour (not the whale one) is also missing.

Yes, I noted some Excursions aren't listed on every cruise.  For example, the "Heart of the Glacier" is not avaiable on our cruise (July 10).    As this thing goes along through August, I suspect other Excursions will be added or not available on different cruises based on what Viking can get on such short notice.

MVJ and the Viking booking site are now both up and running (at least for me).

17 minutes ago, TayanaLorna said:

My DH says - so now all they have to do is get a fake vaccination card.  

And pass the test once they get to the Viking Ship.  Then pass a test to get back to the US.  If Iceland finds out their card was fake, I think that they are also risking signifact penalties before leaving Iceland.  

Some really good news for vacinated folks arriving in Iceland after June 15th:  https://icelandmonitor.mbl.is/news/nature_and_travel/2021/06/02/vaccinated_tourists_not_to_be_tested_in_iceland_as_/

15 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

It’s interesting that some have been able to see menus before boarding.  On all four of our cruises (3 transatlantics and one in Asia) all that showed up on MVJ was a sample menu. Once we boarded, all menus for all venues (including type of sandwiches at tea!) were available on the app. I thought maybe it was because of our stateroom category but this has been the case in V, DV and PV. 

Clay it might be that Transatlantic Crossings are different or it may be the difference between various cruises based on what they know is available. If you have never seen them when you clink on Chaf's Table for a particular day of a cruise when looking to reserve a Chef's Table that says sometimes they do and sometimes they don't.  Strange.

53 minutes ago, patchicago said:

I’ve been on 2 VO cruises (each 13 days or longer) and don’t remember being able to see the chef’s table menus before sailing. I didn’t book any specialty restaurants before sailing on either of those cruises. Each day I decided where I wanted to have supper and either tried to book a table earlier in the day or just showed up when I was hungry. I was never turned away, maybe because I travel solo and was happy to sit at a shared table when asked. For this cruise I thought I would book a few tables in advance because it adds to my trip excitement especially because I can’t see shoreX yet. And because, as of right now, they do not plan on offering shared tables in the specialty restaurants. I do have reservations for the MDR each night and will replace those with a couple of Manfredi’s reservations if available. Once Jupiter start sailing perhaps someone on a July itinerary can post chef’s table menus for me.

On every other Viking Cruise that I have been on (three), I have been able to see the Chef's Table menu by clicking on the day on the reservation site. What I would do was click on each day before making my reservation to determine which of the days I wanted to book based on the menu.   To be clear the actual menu does not appear. What appears is Xiang, Asian Panorama, Mexico, La Route Des Indes, Erling's Scandinavian Bistro, Lotus, Venice Carnval, Sweet and Salty or one of the other Chef's Table Menu titles.  I made a list of what is the menu for each of these so it was easy to pick my favorites of what was available on each cruise.   If you are interested I have attached the various menus that I have seen or eaten in a word document.

viking chef's table.docx

8 minutes ago, patchicago said:

That has been my experience also but I too have read reports from people who claimed  they saw the chef’s table menus ahead of their sailings so I thought maybe practices had changed.

On each of our previous Viking Ocean Cruises we were able to see the Chef's Table menues when we made our reservations over two months in advance.  When you are on longer cruises you often times want to select the Chef's Table nights based on which menu they are serving so it isimportant to know what is the menu each night of the cruise.  On a seven day cruise if you can make 2 or 3 reservations for the Chef's Table that is not as important.  Since traditionally the menu changes every three days,the most different Chef's Table menus you can experience on this couse is three. If you are on a 14 day cruise there would normally be 5 or 6 different Chef's Tables based on where they are on their three day cycle when you board.  If you can only make one reservation in before you board, then selecting the Chef's Table for the meal you think you might enjoy most is important to you.  On the longer cruises as soon as you board and can make additional reservations it is normally one of the first things we do.

We booked a room directly across from the elevator on deck 6, our second time in this same room.  There was no problem the first time and I am a light sleeper.   Two things about Viking - 1) Their passengers are not a very rowdy group of people and 2) Their room are very well insulated against noise.  In all the Viking boards that I have read over the years, I have read of very little cabin noise issues.  I do remember one I believe of a person in one of the cabins next to the lifeboats completing of cabin noise when the lifeboats on deck 3 were being let down for tendering and being raised again.

A tip for sometimes getting an Excursio before it is offically listed in your MVJ. 

In the past, if I have seen an Excursion listed on an earlier cruise's CC Roll Call but not on my MVJ for our cruise, I have used the "Chat" feature and ask if the Excursion was going to be added to our cruise.  If the answer was yes. I ask, can I book it.  Sometimes the answer is yes and they booked it right then, several days before it actually shows in the MVJ excursion list.  As soon as it is booked by Chat, it shows up on my MVJ calendar.   Sometimes when I ask if I can book it the answer is that it is not currently available for booking.  I've even had one Chat where I ask about two different Excursions and Chat said that both would be added to our cruise but their system would let Chat book one of them but not the other.

In any case, I felt this might be a good tip for any folks wanting to get a particular Excursion on your cruise that may not have appeared yet in your MVJ.

16 minutes ago, StuLaurie said:

Can anyone tell me what times were offered for the Northern Icelands’s Natural Treasures Excursion in Akureyri on day 4?

Only 8:30 am for this 7 hour excursion is offered on the July 10th cruise.

I agree with much of what has been said of Vikings lack of effective communications regarding excursions.   I fully recognize that they have been setting up the excursions on a comprssed schedule with suppliers that are restarting after being closed for a pandemic but the lack of communication has been frustrating.   They show be able to develop a plan and communicate their plan to their customers.  When the plans need to change they need to communicate the reason for the change and the new plan.  Must of us are Viking Fans and will understand that they may need to adjust.  The total lack of communications on Excusions in alost unforgiveable.   The fact that due to the Viking bubble causing us to only leave the ship on Viking excusions causes this problem to be much greater.

1 hour ago, LindaS272 said:

Wow—very sorry for your neighbor. My husband and I were skeptical here about the CDC’s recommendation on removing masks. We haven’t changed our behavior one iota. (Although we did have a slice of pizza for lunch at an outdoor table at our local grocery store last week.) I would only stop masking up when the numbers come way down in my county. They are slowing, but I want to see a couple of weeks with NO cases.

I believe that once you are vacinated you can do reasonable things such as eating at a reastrurant without your mask or gathering with vacinated friends.  But we need to realize, that the while the vaccine provide good protection, it is not 100%.   If you are vacinated the odds of not getting Covid are signifactly in your favor and if you do get it, it is most often minor.   As a cruise line, I believe Viking needs to error on the side of safety.   I'm glad you are still being watchful.  I think that is smart.

On 5/20/2021 at 1:24 PM, LindaS272 said:

The CDC has said their data shows fully vaccinated people are safe to remove masks both indoors and out. Our federal mandates say you must still wear masks on public transport. Many state and local entities, including businesses, are still requiring masks for all. The CDC doesn’t mandate anything—they just do the research and share the data. So they are absolutely going to be influencing decisions in many countries.

 

There are several challenges businesses are facing as they open up.   This is especially true for the cruise industry that needs to meet the requirements of each of the countries they will sail in.  I think you understand that any major Covid outbreak on a cruise line will be catastrophic for that cruise line.  Since we enjoy cruising so much, I for one, have no problem with Viking preceeding with extreme caution.   Every country's disease control organization is still learning on this virus that has only been out there for less than two years with vacines that have only been out there for less than a year and are still being studied.   The US CDC has changed its direction several times in this two years as it learns more and more about controling this virus.  The vaccine is not 100% effective - the best of them are 95% effective which is one of the reasons you are seeing several breakthrough cases for people that have been vacinated - my neighbor is one of those breakthrough cases.   Two weeks after she received her second Pfizer shot she was convienced she was protected and went every where without a mask or social distancing.  A month later she got Covid and ended up hospitialized.   The good news is that she is now OK and back to wearing a mask around people she doesn't know like in stores and is practicing social distancing.   Maybe a few months from now we will know more about the breakthrough cases and how to prevent them.   For now, I am comfortable eating at restaurants without a mask but I still wear one when I go in or go shopping.  When we have vacinated friends over, we ask what everyone feels comfortable with doing.   If one person wants to wear a mask, then we all wear a mask and don't make fun of their choice.  It is one of the things friends do.  It is like when you are going for a walk with a group, we all walk at the speed of the slowest friend.   Bottom line is if Viking wants us to wear a mask when going about the ship, I'll wear a mask.   If they would want me to wear one in my cabin or on my veranda, then I would cancel my cruise.